Folie à Trois

If two’s company…three is most certainly a crowd. At just twenty-two years old, Marilyn was quickly climbing a ladder that would eventually lead her to super-stardom. She’d been through a wild love affair with a man who’s hot and cold sides seemed to ebb and flow with the tide. She had convinced herself that she should marry him, but walked away when he told her he didn’t think a woman “like her” would be the kind he'd want as mother to his young daughter.

She threw herself into a rigorous trinity of voice lessons, dance lessons and acting classes where she stumbled upon Natasha Lytess, her first dramatic coach. Lytess, a German ex-pat theatre actress turned acting teacher, was a hard woman who seemed just as eager to break her new student’s spirit as she was to build up the essence of her character.

When the stroke of midnight rang on New Year’s Eve 1948 - Monroe would actually dance out of the arms of unrequited love and directly into the sights of William-Morris super agent Johnny Hyde. Hyde wasted no time taking his Cinderella away from the ball, first to Palm Springs - and then to a plastic surgeon.

Just a few months into the year, Marilyn had studio heads in a platinum daze - all made possible by Johnny’s careful instruction and a newly charted course, of which he was her guide. It may have been her willingness to please anyone who seemed willing to help her, but Marilyn soon found herself in a grey area. Hyde’s affection for his client was only matched by Lytess’ own romantic obsession - and while the walls felt as if they were closing in, before they did, 20th Century Fox would present Monroe with an exclusive contract for a seven year stretch.

Despite her newfound good fortune, however, tragedy was waiting in the wings, and the cycle of Marilyn's repeated abandonment would start all over again…

@fascinationpod